


Then and Now

by Hitoshi



Series: Mon Ange Déchu [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/M, Family Feels, Flashbacks, Historical References, Implied/Referenced Abortion, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, Past Abortion, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, part of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 18:36:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hitoshi/pseuds/Hitoshi
Summary: In the early hours of the morning, Javert reminisces on how he met Fantine and what he felt about her compared to now





	Then and Now

She had been nothing to him at first- another prostitute, less attractive than most with her barely there hair and missing teeth. The way they met was quite unusual for a romance as well. He was making his daily rounds around Montereuil-sur-Mer and heard a scream. From the high-pitch, he deducted it was a woman, and it wasn’t a scream of pain either. He’d heard too many of those to confuse this one as one of them. Fixing his hat, he sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him and arrived in one of the infamous whorehouses of Montereuil-sur-Mer. A man dressed in a finely tailored suit was seen in front of a scantily-clad woman dressed in red. Immediately, he knew what she was. What else could she be with her bosom so exposed? No self-respecting Frenchwoman would  _ dare _ dress like that.

 

The French aristocrat immediately turned and spat his side of the story in Javert’s face and Javert cringed at the smell. It was the scent of too much whiskey combined with halitosis. As the man did that, the prostitute desperately clung to his sleeve, clawing at it and begging him through sobs to not put her in prison. He roughly shook her off but again, she latched onto him like a leech and placed her dirtied cheek on his arm.

 

_ ‘I have to wash it tonight.’ _ He thought to himself. His coat had been dirtied with the touch of someone who belonged to the lowest class on earth. They were even beneath slaves. At least those things didn’t disgrace themselves willingly. 

 

-

 

Now he felt blessed to wake up in the presence of an angel everyday. In the early hours of the morning, when the sun was just waking up from its slumber, he would watch her chest rise and fall with tender eyes. The usual nervous tremors that plagued her body were gone, replaced with a comforting stillness. The trauma from the streets still clung to her even years later. Oh how Javert wished he could punish every single one of those men who dared put their hands on his dear Fantine. He had the authority to, as Inspector, but he decided not to. It wouldn’t do her good to see the faces of those who used her for a few sous and then left for the night.

 

He blinked back into reality as she shifted in her sleep, murmuring incomprehensible things. The only things he was able to make out were ‘pennyroyal’ and ‘tansy oil.’ Two very well known substances used to terminate pregnancies as he had grown to know. Never could he wipe away the sight of a little red  _ thing  _ on the ground. It was shaped like a human. He could even make out its tiny, tiny fingers even if it was smaller than a single bean. The blood ran like the Canche river near Montereuil-sur-Mer from between the girl’s legs, who was now spasming and frothing at the mouth. The elderly woman who administered the tonic had run once she heard his boots slamming against the pavement near her makeshift clinic. A few spasms later and the girl was as dead as the baby that she forcefully expelled from her body.

 

To think that Fantine had to go through that and actually lived was both chilling and a miracle. He brushed his lips against her sweat-soaked forehead and wiped the droplets away with a handkerchief by their nightstand. 

 

“Papa?”

 

At the voice, Fantine stirred and got up. Her hair was now to her shoulders and curled slightly at the edges. 

 

“Cosette.” She smiled sweetly and held her arms out to the blond girl. “Come here.”

 

The little blue-eyed girl practically pounced onto the bed, eliciting a booming laugh from Javert and a goofy smile from Fantine, her pearly whites showing. He locked eyes with her and gave her a little smile of his own. It was beginning to look more natural the longer he was with her. At least this time it didn’t make Cosette cry. 

 

She snuggled in between them and Fantine pulled the covers up so that she was nestled warmly between the bodies of herself and Javert. Within minutes, the girl fell asleep and Fantine fell asleep soon after. Now Javert was the only one up, watching his angels slumber peacefully just as the morning rays of the sun pierced the gray sky. 

 

The family was anything but perfect, with each member, yes, even the child, having their own baggage. But in his opinion, being able to live with each other despite of the trauma and pain was a different kind of perfect. 


End file.
